Henry c



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEO HENRY o. CARTER, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

COVER FOR BUTTER-TUBS, 84.0.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,597, dated J'une 4, 1889.

Application filed March 5, 188 9. en'al No. 301,947. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY O. CARTER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Covers for Butter and other Tubs or Packages, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to covers for butter and other like tubs, boxes, or packages which are made up in sections, one of which, that occupies an intermediate position, is of wedge shape and fitted to slide in and out between the adjacent sections for the purpose of tightly closing the cover to its place and removing the same when required, and whereby nails, clasps, or tin and other like fastenings for securing the cover may be dispensed with.

The invention consists in a cover of this description of novel construction, substantially as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,

in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all-the views.

Figure 1 represents a view in perspective of a butter or other like tub having .my improved cover applied, and which is represented as closed to its place in the tub. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the cover removed and partly broken away, and Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of the tub with the cover removed.

A is the tub, which may be of any suitable size and shape; or it might be a cask, barrel, or other package to be closed at its end by a removable cover. The opening end of this tub A is internally shouldered, as at h, to receive and support the cover, which is represented as made up of three pieces or sections B B O. The inner surfaces of the projecting walls or end rim portion 0 of the tub are beveled, so as to present an enlarged area at the shoulder 12, in order to form a locking-recess for the correspondingly or reversely beveled edges of the sections B B of the cover when the latter are driven home by the wedge-section 0, and so prevent the coverfrom slipping out. The top of the cover when in place lies flush with the top or end rim 0 of the vessel, so as to present a smooth even surface.

Recesses (Z d are cut in the rim 0 0n.0pp0-' site sides of the vessel, for the ends of the wedge-section C to pass in and out of. This wedge C, while an independent section of the cover, extending, when driven inward, over the end of the vessel and through the recesses d cl, is connected on each of its opposite side edges by an attached longitudinally-slotted web-piece c with the cover-sections B B on their inner edges by said slotted web-pieces entering within longitudinal grooves f f in the inner edges of the sections B B, and being secured therein with freedom to slide back and forth to a limited extent as the wedge O is moved in or out by studs g, which may eitherbe rivets, screws, or pinspassingthrough the grooved portions of the sections B B and through the slotted Web-pieces e, only one of which latter is here shown. Each slot-ted Web-piece 6 may, if desired, be made of a piece of bent wire, as shown, or it may be otherwise constructed.

Supposing the cover to be fitted and closed to its place, as in Fig. 1, then in order to remove it all that is necesssary is to force or slide the wedge-section O partly out from between the sect-ions B B as far as certain of the stops or studs g g passing through the slotted webs e will permit, as shown in Fig. 2. This will contract or draw the sections B B toward each other, so as to clear the beveled rim 0, when the whole cover may be lifted off by using the projectingend portion of the Wedge C, as a handle. The same use may be made of the projecting end portion of the wedge 0, when necessary to replace the cover, by fitting the latter to rest within the end of the tub upon the shoulder b, and then driving in the wedge C to force the sections B B apart and cause them to lock with the beveled rim of the tub, the opposite ends of the wedge C then lying within the recesses d (Z, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The whole cover, as thus constructed to operate, virtually forms an expanding and contracting cover suitable for various tubs or vessels.

In some cases the I slotted webs 6 might be attached to the inside edges of the sections B B and the grooves f in which they fit, and the studs or pins g be in or carried by the wedge-section O. This I regard as the equivalent of the construction shown in the drawings, and the operation of the part-s is the same.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. An expanding and contracting cover for tubs and other vessels or packages, composed of independent side sections, a sliding wedgeshaped section in between the side sections, secured to the latter by slotted attachments, and pins or studs controlling the movement of the wedgesection and side sections relatively to each other, substantially as specified.

2. In sectionally-constructed covers for tubs and other vessels or packages, the sections B 13, having grooves f in their inner edges, in combination with the intermediate sliding web-section C, provided on each of its opposite edges with a longit-udinally-slotted web adapted to fit within the grooves f, and pins or studs passing through said slotted webs and securing the several sections together and controlling their movement relatively to each other, essentially as described, and whereby the wedge-section is made to form a handle for lifting and placing the cover, as set forth.

In combination with a tub or vessel provided with a shoulder Z) and projecting inner beveled end rim 0, having opposite recesses (Z (Z in it, the cover-sections 1-3 B, correspondingly bereled on their outer edges to lock with said rim, the intermediate sliding Wedgeshaped section 0, secured to the side sections by slotted attachments, an d pins or studs controlling the movements of the several eoversections, substantially as specified.

HENRY C". CARTER.

\Vitnesses:

C. SEDewIcK, E. l. CLARK. 

